Former Midwest Academy head wants speedy, local trial

Tuesday

Nov 28, 2017 at 12:01 AM

Andy Hoffman

KEOKUK — An attorney representing the former owner and director of the now-defunct Midwest Academy said her client wants his Dec. 12 trial on sexual abuse charges to remain in South Lee County District Court.

Lisa Schaefer, a private attorney appointed by the court to represent Benjamin Trane, told District Judge John Linn during a hearing Monday morning in South Lee County District Court that, despite her advice, Trane opposes a prosecutor's request to move his trial to a different jurisdiction outside of Lee County.

"He believes we can find a neutral and impartial jury here," Schaefer told Linn of Trane's desire to keep the case in Keokuk. "Mr. Trane doesn't believe he is going to find any jurors that would be more fair to him than he can find in Lee County. That is why he has instructed me to oppose the state's request to change venues at this time."

Denise Timmins, an assistant Iowa attorney general who is prosecuting Trane on several charges related to his involvement with students at the private boarding school, told Linn Monday she filed the motion for a change of venue because of Trane's extensive involvement in the community for the past several years.

"The cumulative effect of pretrial publicity, the significant community ties and involvement with Midwest Academy (MWA) prior to is closure, and the polarization to one side or the other within the community after the close of MWA creates the substantial unlikelihood that a fair and impartial jury without connections to MWA or preconceived notions or opinions about the case could be picked in Lee County," Timmins wrote in her motion for the change of venue. "Based on the above, it is clear the state and the defendant would both face difficulties in picking a fair and impartial jury."

She said the filing of charges against Trane and the closing of the Midwest Academy after allegations of numerous illegal activities "has torn the community apart" and remained a topic of interest among area residents for months.

"I think we are going to have an extremely difficult time finding people (in South Lee County) that can be impartial," Timmins told Linn. "We are not asking to go far away ... Our concern is only that it (is moved out of) this community."

Trane, 39, did not speak at the 30-minute hearing.

Linn took Timmins' change of venue request under advisement. He said he would issue a written decision on the prosecution's motion within the next couple of days.

He also confirmed Monday that Trane's trial would begin at 8:30 a.m. Dec. 12 if he does not grant a change of venue. The trial is expected to last "five to seven days."

Trane's trial had been tentatively set on Linn's trial docket for Dec. 12, but had not been officially confirmed because it had not been formally determined if Trane would waive his right to a speedy trial, which if he had done would have moved the trial to next year.

However, Schaefer told Linn during Monday's hearing that Trane, who is free on bond, is adamant he wants his day in court as soon as possible.

"Despite my advice, he is continuing his demand for a speedy trial," Schaefer said. "Therefore, we will be prepared to move forward with the trial on Dec. 12."

Trane was charged last September with third-degree sexual abuse, sexual exploitation by a counselor and child endangerment. If convicted of all three charges, authorities said he faces up to 17 years in prison.

He was released from the Lee County jail after he surrendered to authorities in September and remains free on bond while awaiting trial.

The charges against Trane were filed after a 19-month investigation into allegations of abuse at the private, for-profit boarding school in Keokuk. The school, which enrolled about 100 students from mostly well-off families across the United States, closed in January 2016 after investigators served search warrants there.

In criminal complaints filed in South Lee County District Court, Joe Lestina, a special agent with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), alleged that Trane abused his power to pursue sexual relationships with some students while enforcing policies that put others at risk by keeping them in isolation for days or weeks at a time.

Trane performed multiple sexual acts on one student throughout 2015, coercing her to engage in them “in order for her to successfully participate and ‘level up’ in the program and to be able to contact her family members,” Lestina wrote. Trane was the girl’s counselor and point of contact for her family.

In a related matter, Trane is scheduled to be back in court at 1 p.m. Monday in South Lee County District Court to testify about his financial status. The hearing is to determine if he has enough money and assets to pay approximately $748,800 in damages to a 22-year-old woman, who reported to authorities in 2015 what she believed to be abuse of a student at the Midwest Academy boarding school in Keokuk.

Cheyenne Jerred, the employee who first notified authorities about the alleged abuse at the school, was awarded the damages earlier this year by District Court Judge John Wright after she filed a "whistleblower" lawsuit against Trane and Midwest Academy. She was terminated at the school after Trane learned she was the employee who notified authorities.

During Monday's hearing, Jerred's attorney, Curtis Dial, is expected to call Trane to the witness stand in an attempt to determine his current financial status, including assets throughout the United States, and how he intends to pay the judgment awarded to Jerred by Wright.

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